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Are some of the realest motherfuckers around. Alot of good music came from dudes who were in biker gangs.

Is there any good books about biker gangs I should be readin?

Discuss.

I don't really know anything about biker gangs, bikers, or even bikes, for that matter, but I thought I'd share a story my mom's friend told me.

When this dude, let's call him Jake, was about 22 he spent a lot of time hitchiking around the states. This was in the late 60's or possibly the very early 70's so, according to Jake, it was a 'fairly' safe way to travel. On one particular occasion somewhere in the North West Jake caught a ride with a group of bikers who happened to be driving right through the city Jake was heading for. It was like a 600-700 mile trip, so about halfway through the bikers pull off into the woods and set up campsite. Now, the dude that Jake was riding with was a real friendly guy but some of the other bikers were, appropriately, more surly. One dude in particular started to give Jake a really hard time. Asking him if he was a hippie, and telling him he heated hippies cause they did drugs. As the night progresses, big biker dude gets more and more drunk and more and more belligerent to the point that Jake starts to feel threatened. In the course of heckling Jake, the biker at one point asks him if he's ever done LSD. Jake responds honestly that he's done so on a number of occasions, and then asks the biker if he's ever tried it. The biker guy gets really pissed off and says something to the effect of "hell no, i don't mess around with that hippie shit". I don't know what compelled him to do it, but Jake takes the opportunity to press dude's buttons and asks him with a straight face, "Why not? Are you scared or something?". You can imagine what sort of effect the suggestion had on the big dude, who predictably responded "No fucking way, I'm not afraid of anything". Of course, Jake was carrying LSD on him at the time, so he simply took it out of his bag and told the biker to go ahead and try it if he wasn't scared. Within about 40 minutes the big biker dude is completely passed out, and when the other biker who'd given Jake the ride walked up and asked how much he gave the guy, Jake just laughs and says "I don't know, but it was at least five times more than I've ever taken".

for the gritty, documentary-like portrayal of late 60's and early 70's biker culture, i would direct you to the numerous biker films of that period by such high-falutin' companies as american or crown international pictures. that shit was for real!

This Aussie flick, Stone, from the 70s is a tough look on our Bikie culture.There is a film in production about the Milperra Massacre, in which 10 people were killed when 2 rival bike gangs started shooting at each other in the street 20 years ago.They mostly controlled the heroin market in down here... not much music came out of them.

My Uncle was one of the original Hells Angels when the NZ chapter was formed. He's been out of the gang scene since the late 70s though. All into crystals & stuff now. Our family business (motorcycle shop) was reasonably unfuckwithable for a while there, which was apparently good as our leather goods would go missing far less than the other shop's. My Dad remembers another lesser gang turning up to their family home & hitting up my Grandad for spares for their British bikes all the time. They would always send this deaf/mute/stupid guy through the gate first to check if the dogs were tied up. That story cracked me up first time I heard it. Apparently the Stupid guy rode his Harley into a truck a few years ago & they buried him with what was left of his mangled Hog.

Are some of the realest motherfuckers around. Alot of good music came from dudes who were in biker gangs.

Is there any good books about biker gangs I should be readin?

Discuss.

i just ordered this:

haven't gotten it yet, so can't say how rad it is. I got it cheap on Amazon(overstock I think) for $3, hardcover.

I remember seeing this documentary on those dudes and they were getting DOWN to "It's Just Begun".

I just finished reading "Hunter" which is a biography on Hunter Thompson from the early 90's. They talk about his "encounter" with the Hells Angels where he claims they all jumped him but according to Sonny Barger it was just one dude that whupped his ass and made him run screaming like a woman down the street. I should read that book he wrote on them.

there is this book by levingston and the zimmerman twins called Soul on Bikes - The East Bay Dragons MC and the Black Biker Set. forward was written by barger as well. this is a must read for those that like the biker lifestyle...

I worked with a fifty-something Hells Angel biker mama in a screenprint shop around 1990 or so. She and her man were both racist as hell rednecks and pretty stupid on top of that. She talked about partying with Jerry Garcia in the 70s, so I don't think that most bikers were anti-hippie, let alone anti-drug.

Nowadays though, most of the Harley-riding dudes I see here are fifty-something white professionals trying to recapture their youth via riding expensive HD's. Hell, who else can afford them. But there's been a growing contingent of very visable black biker clubs around here over the past several years, the difference being that they usually ride Japanese models. If you ever want to see about 200 bikers in the Chapel Hill area, every Sunday morning they descend en masse to this restaurant down the road from my house. They look like pretty much normal people, but with lots of flawlessly-maintained leather. On the other hand, the rougher redneck bikers in our area congregate at a grill in Durham where apparently they enjoy lots of classic rock and sports on TV.

No doubt there's lots of cool biker movies (starring real bikers) and soundtracks (made by non-bikers) from the 60s and 70s, and even a few bands like Steppenwolf & Crow that have a big biker appeal. But I'm skeptical that many true bikers got their shit together long enough to actually record an album. Though that outsider biker psych folk dude Nicodemus might qualify.

I cosign on Hunter Thompson's HELLS ANGELS and also add the Rolling Stones flick GIMME SHELTER as insights into the biker experience. Though I doubt anyone in their right mind would think most of these dudes are truly "cool." Sure they have that American outlaw appeal going for them, but a lot of 'em are dumb, racist, violent speedfreaks - not really my idea of a role model.

Are some of the realest motherfuckers around. Alot of good music came from dudes who were in biker gangs.

Is there any good books about biker gangs I should be readin?

Discuss.

Not strictly Biker Gangs, but they were definitely on the scene in Brooklyn in the late 60s. You can still find this sort of thing in Williamsburg and Bushwick if you can see past the frat-yuppie hell.

Bushwick, Brooklyn, circa 1967-1968 Throughout the mid-60's and mid-70's; Brooklyn was home to many street gangs. Rubberband Man and Apache were all too familiar with these violent times, they grew up in the Bushwick area. They often hung around with the Devil Rebels and other local Brooklyn Gangs. Although they socialized within a dangerous circle of friends, getting into trouble was not their ultimate goal. They loved to dance; mainly to Soul and Funk music, and wanted to channel their energy and skill towards something new-so they created a new dance form called "Rocking".

Rubberband Man and Apache would dance on the street corners while listening to the radio. They used mixture of moves from Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, Salsa, and later the Hustle. As the dance developed, body movements called "jerks" and hand gestures called "burns" would be added to imitate a fight against an opposing dancer. Rubberband Man and Apache morphed these dance styles, movements, and gestures together to create a unique and original street dance. Many gangs, and more specifically gang members, began to perform this dance. It became commonplace to see gang members hanging out in corners rocking against each other. Rocking became a competitive dance that caught on very quickly.

By the early 70's Rocking became a local dance, not just a "gang" dance. Many non-gang-related youths from around the area started to Rock. You could witness Uprocking at block parties, teen dances, and many other festive gatherings. A man by the name of "Crazy Rob" organized the first Rock Contests in existence. Competition was fierce and Brooklyn became a breeding ground for intense dance contests (or battles).The dance caught on so quickly, and had spread so widely, that the name had to be changed. The term "Rock" in a "Rock Contest" would confuse many "Rock Music" fanatics; they would show up expecting a "Rock concert". Mistaken as a rock & roll dance, "Rocking" became "Uprocking". It was the same dance with a different name.

the OG biker gang is from Fort Worth, "The Booze Fighters"...they were formed in 1945..a bunch of WWII vets...you see them around the Fort a lot.

my funny Hell-Angles story

I was in Amsterdam in the bar of this shitty red-light district hotel I was staying in. It was late and I was sitting at the bar enjoying a nice beer and was rolling up a joint. Unfortunatley these annoying as fuck british public school assholes sat next to me, but shit, I was on a record buying trip, made a nice score earlier that day and was about to smoke up a gram or two of Sage, so it would take a lot to ruffle my feathers. anyway about 7 Hells Angles walk in, American ones(dont get me started on euro hells angles, dudes make me laugh, some of them ride scooters and shit) the real deal. anyway these assholes next to me say something along the lines of "ooooooo, Hells Angels, I'm scared" really loud and sarcastically. I look up from what I am doing and immediatley collect my shit and move to the farthest seat in the bar, I, in no way, wanna be associated with these pricks casue I know something is gonna happen. So now I am in the back of the bar at a table wishing I had some popcorn to watch what is going to happen. One of the younger Hells Angles, who looked looked just like Dave Navarro approches him and asks "what the fuck is your problem" and then one of the older, beer bellied scary looking muhfuggers walks up to him and bitch slaps the british dude harder than I have ever seen someone get slapped before. It was funny as shit, i wish i had that shit on video. Then the bartender told the british dudes to go up to their room or get the fuck out...it was hilarious.

I found a pretty insane batch of 50 or so photo's of a mixed race gang from Oakland called the BRETHREN.They were all taken in the early 70's.In the 50 or so photo's there are guns being shot,hogs rode,pigs roasted,joints smoked, a 4 year old with cigarette, hard partying,and colors flying!If I get my shit together,I'll post some.

I found a pretty insane batch of 50 or so photo's of a mixed race gang from Oakland called the BRETHREN.They were all taken in the early 70's.In the 50 or so photo's there are guns being shot,hogs rode,pigs roasted,joints smoked, a 4 year old with cigarette, hard partying,and colors flying!If I get my shit together,I'll post some.

Chris

Find a famous person to write an intro, and it sounds like a coffee table book proposal could be in your future!

I found a pretty insane batch of 50 or so photo's of a mixed race gang from Oakland called the BRETHREN.They were all taken in the early 70's.In the 50 or so photo's there are guns being shot,hogs rode,pigs roasted,joints smoked, a 4 year old with cigarette, hard partying,and colors flying!If I get my shit together,I'll post some.

Chris

Find a famous person to write an intro, and it sounds like a coffee table book proposal could be in your future!

Fucking eerie, man.. My friend just called me to tell me her mom's ex-boyfriend, who was a member of the Pagans, shot a Hell's Angel outside a local bar. Hit in the stomach and the groin. My other friend's mom was the one trying to stop the bleeding until the ambulance showed up.. Guy died on the way to the hospital.Then I sign on and see this at the top of the threads.

I used to be pretty tight with the Wheels Of Soul MC based out of North Philly. This was back in 1996, and I was first approached by one of their members at a nightclub. His name was "Beast" and he was about 6'11" and used to walk around the club with his denim vest, flashing the colors on the back, but worn without a shirt so he could show the huge Public Enemy logo he had inked across his chest. He came up to me while I was DJing and asked if I had "Baby Sinister" by Slave. I played it that evening while Beast held court. On the way out, he handed me a business card that seid on one side "CAN YOU HANG?" and on the flipside said "LIKE A MOTHERFUCKER" - which had the address to their Ridge Avenue address. I would hang up there with those guys getting dranked and drugged, gambling until the sun came up, and basically hanging "like a motherfucker" for a little while in my life.

The night before my SAT's in 1979 I went to see David Allan Coe (author of such gems as "Fuck Anita Bryant" and "There's Cum Stains on the Pillow Where She Once Laid Her Head") at the Great Southeast Music Hall (where the Sex Pistols made their North American debut) in Atlanta, GA. There were Pagans, Outlaws, Angels and God knows who else in the crowd. Must have been 200 Harleys out front. One guy was walking around with a sawed-off 12 guage in a holster. The only brother in the crowd was about 6'9" and wore a shirt that said "Fuck Off." I later became friends with a cop who said the Atlanta PD had like 50 undercover cops (no uniforms in sight) at that show. Luckily I saw no fights and made it to my SAT's the next morning. Scored 1140.

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